Iran Claims to Have Blocked New Cyber Attacks

An Iranian official today claimed that a virus unsuccessfully attempted to compromise computers at industrial sites in the south of the country.

"The unit tasked with fighting cyber attacks, the Passive Defence Organisation, said a virus had infected several sites in Hormozgan province in recent months but was neutralised," writes Reuters' Yeganeh Torbati. "'Enemies are constantly attacking Iran's industrial units through Internet networks in order to create disruptions,' Ali Akbar Akhavan, head of the Hormozgan branch of the organisation, was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students' News Agency on Tuesday."

"The news agency quoted [Akhavan] as saying that 'with timely measures and the cooperation of skilled hackers in the province, the progress of this virus was halted,'" writes The New York Times' Rick Gladstone. "It was unclear from the account whether any Iranian targets had been damaged. Iran’s Fars News Agency said a cyberattack had also been made against the information center of the Culture Ministry’s Headquarters for Supporting and Protecting Works of Art and Culture, and that the attack had been 'repelled by the headquarters’ experts.'"